Mark Zuckerberg’s book club: Facebook founder invites people to join his 2015 challenge to read a book every other week

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Lynsey Barber

I'm City A.M.'s award-winning technology editor, covering everything from happenings at Apple and Google to the latest London startup.

In particular fintech, blockchain, artifical intelligence, driverless cars, virtual reality and the sharing economy get me out of bed in the morning.

I'm always trying to illustrate stories with pictures of dogs. Sometimes with some success.

I was named technology journalist of the year at the UK Tech Awards.

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Lynsey Barber

Zuckerberg is reading more in 2015 (Source: Getty)

It’s that time of year again when resolutions are made and many more broken.

Those struggling to stick to theirs should be heartened that even the world’s biggest entrepreneur and richest man thinks he needs to do a little self-improvement.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has set himself a challenge of reading a new book every other week in 2015, “with an emphasis on learning about different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Why this particular challenge for the man who founded an algorithm which understands more about us than we probably understand about ourselves?

“I've found reading books very intellectually fulfilling,” Zuck explains. “Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today. I'm looking forward to shifting more of my media diet towards reading books, “ he added.

While Zuck is up for the challenge, he may not realise the rest of us have developed an attention span shorter than a goldfish thanks to his social network and changing our own media diet might be more of a challenge.

But, we can give it a go. Zuck is inviting people to join in and read along with him in possibly the biggest book group since Oprah’s.

Those up for the challenge can keep up on the Facebook page A Year of Books, where readers can find out each book being read and discuss it along the way. “Please only participate in the discussions if you've actually read the books and have relevant points to add,” he warns. The page already has 139,000 likes.

The first book on the shelf is The End of Power by Moisés Naím, a book that “explores how the world is shifting to give individual people more power that was traditionally only held by large governments, militaries and other organizations. The trend towards giving people more power is one I believe in deeply, and I'm looking forward to reading this book and exploring this in more detail.”

Naim, the author, scholar and contributing editor is pretty happy about being chosen,

Mark Zuckerberg has launched a book club in Facebook. He is starting with The End Of Power. Thank you Mark! Click--> https://t.co/wWAxVh60is

His book meanwhile, first published in 2013 and already rated four out of five stars, is now sold out on Amazon, but there’s always the Kindle edition and other British booksellers still have it in stock.

If you can find the time for a new book every two week and want to be on the same page as Zuckerberg, literally, then happy reading.